Reuters reporters win award for body parts industry stories

Brian Grow and John Shiffman and other Reuters reporters have won the 2018 Shadid Award, given by the University of Wisconsin, for their stories on how body parts have become a big industry.

“The Body Trade” exposes the industry that dissects, rents and sells the bodies of the recently deceased. During interviews with family members of those who had donated their bodies, Grow “set aside the instincts as an intrepid reporter and relied instead on his own ethical compass, showing the families his respect for their loss and his understanding of the difficult choices many of them made,” the nominating editor wrote.

Lucas Graves, assistant professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication and chair of the Shadid Award judging committee, said all of this year’s finalists navigated tricky ethical questions, but the Reuters series stood out.

“This series involves a topic that is highly personal to the families of those who donated their bodies and important to everyone,” Graves said. “Reporters and editors invested in telling this story as thoroughly as possible and dealt with some unexpected landmines in a thoughtful way.”

Grow, Shiffman and the Reuters team will be presented with the award April 5 in a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C